A labor group on Wednesday finds itself uncomfortable with the proposal of incoming labor secretary Silvestre Bello to rename the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) to Department of Labor and Management or of Employers, purportedly to provide employers the ‘comfort zone’ in doing their business in the country.
Partido ng Manggagawa (PM) Chair Renato Magtubo said, “It is, on the contrary, the workers who feel uncomfortable dealing with DOLE because of its perceived industry capture. Renaming it to reaasure business of government protection is another way of portraying the agency as partisan to labor or of labor being a recalcitrant industrial partner condoned by government.”
Magtubo added: “It is performance and not the name that defines DOLE. If workers are not happy with the department because of rampant labor law violations then business is assumed to be more comfortable with the current setup that allows unbriddled exercise of management prerogative.”
The labor leader meanwhile urged Bello to facilitate the holding of a labor summit or to sitdown with different labor groups so he can hear the side of workers.
“The new government has already met and made economic commitments with business CEOs in Davao. Now it’s time to hear the soldiers of industry who are the workers and laborerers doing the actual production on the ground.”
21 June 2016
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